And what does that even MEAN? This question has been popping up more often in casual conversation, occasionally because of my new found calorie provider of choice, Hello Fresh. I cooked often as a single guy (so … the 90’s) but I stopped after marriage because my wife was quite a good cook who enjoyed it and didn’t like me futzing around in her kitchen. Since becoming “not married” I hadn’t returned to it. Then in December I realized that my weekly protein intake was dreadfully low, my dining out budget was higher than it should be and that at least 75% of my choices were, ahem, less than healthy.. I have always answered the “Can you cook?” question with a solid “yes.” But the follow-up is always “What can you make?” My thought is “anything for which I have the ingredients and a recipe..” Which is what the food delivery services provide. So far in 2020 I’ve put together a great parmesean encrusted chicken breast, a teriyaki pork bowl (not a fave … rice problems) a couple tilapia dishes and a handful of other nice meals. And they’ve all been quite flavorful, attractive on the plate, and nutritious. So YES DAMMIT I can cook!
School Spirit
I’ve limited my substitute teaching to five school districts this year. ONE of them is a magnet school which excuses it form this discussion. One is a mirror of the small exurban school I attended fifty years ago. The second WAS a mirror of that school until about twenty years ago when Franklin County development bled over into the district and the population boomed. The third was ALWAYS a big land-locked suburban district. And the fourth. Twenty five years ago it was only slightly larger than the my old school and the prior two mentioned. Then THEY had a boom similar to that mentioned above. But the boom was an immigration bomb. They have one of the largest Somali enrollments in the midwest.
What’s that have to do with school spirit? I’ve been subbing there for five years. Have seen a LOT of changes there, none of them good. Discipline problems. Lax attitudes. Bells are merely suggestions. Not a good place to be on the whole. And then last month I noticed something. I had classes of 25+ all day. In NO class did I have more than two students wearing school colors (varsity jacket, team shirt, band, theater – ANYTHING.) At the other three schools this number is virtually ALWAYS over 10% and closer to 20%. There is a COMMUNITY. A feeling of belonging to SOMETHING even if it’s the chess club. (No negs on this. I was ON the chess team in HS! Third board.) This other school doesn’t have that and they aren’t building it. Dad didn’t go there. Big sister didn’t go there. Not on a team. Not a member of a club. It’s simply a big government-provided building they’re required to go to five days a week, seven hours a day, over a ten month period each year.
And that’s destroying it.
Brief hiatus
Having some serious vision problems. Posting will be even LIGHTER until rectified. Apologies to anyone who might care.
Best movies of 1999
a few days late but I’m sure I’ll be forgiven.
From Flickchart The Top 10 Films of 1999
my list
| 403 | Being John Malkovich | 1999 | Spike Jonze | R | 97 |
| 260 | The Green Mile | 1999 | Frank Darabont | R | 123 |
| 3136 | The Thomas Crown Affair As usual, a sucker for heist films | 1999 | John McTiernan | R | 202 |
| 238 | The Sixth Sense | 1999 | M. Night Shyamalan | PG13 | 248 |
| 2835 | Bringing Out the Dead NO idea why this is so high | 1999 | Martin Scorsese | R | 293 |
| 1597 | Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Soundtrack, baby. Soundtrack | 1999 | Jay Roach | PG13 | 363 |
| 37 | The Matrix | 1999 | The Wachowskis | R | 403 |
| 1201 | Galaxy Quest Best Star Trek movies ever made. | 1999 | Dean Parisot | PG | 405 |
| 11 | Fight Club | 1999 | David Fincher | R | 411 |
| 1661 | The Virgin Suicides Musta just watched this at the right time. | 1999 | Sofia Coppola | R | 551 |
Best 1999 movie I haven’t seen? Tarzan.
Holiday movies final post
A Charlie Brown Christmas. 1965. Not the reboot in 2002. Depressed at the commercialism he sees around him, Charlie Brown tries to find a deeper meaning to Christmas. This one holds several special places in my heart. 9.4/10
Scrooged. 1988. STILL going strong with a solid cast. Just enough reverence for its source material. A selfish, cynical television executive is haunted by three spirits bearing lessons on Christmas Eve. Observation: Murray’s characters father is played by the actor who plays the boss in NL Christmas Vacation. 9.4/10
Miracle on 34th Street. 1947. Natalie Wood cute as a button. Maureen O’hara hotness even in this milquetoast roll. And Edmond Gwenn. 9.4/100 (seeing a trend here?)
It’s a Wonderful Life. 1946. 9.2/10.
In other news.
a nice review of one of LAST year’s new watches: The Cuddliest Post-Apocalyptic Tale Ever
A tribute to one dad loved but I never cared for: ‘White Christmas’ and the Triumphs of the Greatest Generation
and for my farther left friends: The overwhelming conservativism of two non-religious Christmas classics.
Holiday movies part IV
Black Christmas (1974) My entry into the “not really a Christmas movie, just a SET at Christmas movie” movie. During their Christmas break, a group of sorority girls are stalked by a stranger. Someday I’m gonna hafta put together a list of holiday horror movies. And it gets weirder every time. Quite a cast. Dropped it a bit this year but it’s still 8/10
Love Actually. 2003 Still not sure how I feel about this one. From IMDB: Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England. Not Ohio, Kentucky or Ontario. Gotta be specific. Dropped this one as well but still 9/10.
A Christmas Story 1983. Never cared for this but my dad LOVED it. He was the same age as Ralphie. So it stays. In the 1940s, a young boy named Ralphie attempts to convince his parents, his teacher and Santa that a Red Ryder BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift. 9.4/10
Home Alone 1990. Christmas adjacent. 1990. An eight-year-old troublemaker must protect his house from a pair of burglars when he is accidentally left home alone by his family during Christmas vacation. I. Just. Can’t. 7.2/10.
Holiday movies, part three
Christmas in Connecticut. (1945) This was redone in 92. Not sure I’m up for that just yet. A food writer who has lied about being the perfect housewife must try to cover her deception when her boss and a returning war hero invite themselves to her home for a traditional family Christmas. Nice and treacly with Barbara Stanwyck heading an all star cast. Dated, predictable, but light and fun. Hallmark should try THIS formula as well. Held steady at 9.4/10 although IMDB only gives it a 7.4
The Bishop’s Wife. 1947. This one was remade under another title with the genders flipped a decade or so ago. Stinker. An angel in human form enters the life of a bishop in order to help him build a new cathedral and repair his fractured marriage. Loretta Young GLOWS. Good cast at the top and WONDERFUL supporting actors. I’m dropping it a bit this year but it’s still in my top 1k. 8.8/10. 7.6 from IMDB.
The Nightmare Before Christmas. 1993! ack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but his attempts to bring Christmas to his home causes confusion. Christmas adjacent? Not high on MY list but whatcha gonna do? IMDB gives it an 8. I moved it up a bit. Gave it an 8.8
Let’s finish up today with a TRUE classic. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. No, no no, not THAT one. The REAL one. 1966. A grumpy hermit hatches a plan to steal Christmas from the Whos of Whoville. A mere 8.3 from IMDB. I’ve overclocked it to 9.7
Football 12/17
The Ravens are currently the best team in the NFL. The Chiefs and Patriots are a close second and thrid right behind them. And NO ONE ELSE in the AFC is even close.
The NFC is much tighter. I’ll put the 49ers on top with the Vikings right behind, and my Saints trailing them but still a bit behind the Packers.
All the Ravens need to do to clinch the top seed is beat ….wait for it …. the Browns. Done deal. Patriots can clinch #2 with a win and a loss or tie by the Chiefs. Tough order. Patriots likely to win but Bills likely to hold on like grim death.
Packers play the Vikings in game of the week. Iggles v Cowboys is big too but nobody wants to watch. We’d like to see the Cards beat the Seahawks, but that ain’t happenin’ either. Saints by a couple over the Titans who are fighting for their January lives.
The Bowls get underway this weekend, such as they are but we’re gonna hold off picking them until we get down to actual Division I schools – probably starting with the Pinstripe Bowl, with apologies to the folks at the Vegas Bowl. Buckeye’s by 5 over Clemson. No IDEA what Vegas is thinking. 24-19. LSU 40, Oklahoma 32. Then the Buckeyes by 8 (!) over the Heisman Trophy winner.
Holiday movies, second five
The Man Who Invented Christmas. 2017. The journey that led to Charles Dickens’ creation of “A Christmas Carol,” a timeless tale that would redefine Christmas. Too contrived even for ME! Christopher Plummer is fun. Jonathan Pryce is lost. 2 out of 10.
Dr. Who and the Snowmen. 2012. London, 1892. Snow is trying to evolve, feeding off of the nightmares of a little girl. But the Doctor has given up on saving the world. It is up to a young governess named Clara to convince him, with just one word, to save the day. These keep coming up in the unseen list. There’s a reason for this. I find the good doctor an insufferable second rate hack of a time traveler. 3/10
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. (1989) The only movie in the final list that’s on the users list but not mine. The Griswold family’s plans for a big family Christmas predictably turn into a big disaster. I re-evaluated. and it shot up the ranks. 7.7 out of 10. Can’t beat on a movie featuring the original voice of Betty Boop.
The Muppet Christmas Carol. 1992. The Muppet characters tell their version of the classic tale of an old and bitter miser’s redemption on Christmas Eve. With Michael Caine. 9.4/10. probably too high.
A Christmas Carol 1938. On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the spirit of his former partner, Jacob Marley. The deceased partner was as mean and miserly as Scrooge is now and he warns him to change his ways or face the consequences in the afterlife. My sister preferes the 1951 Alisair Sim version which imho is darker and slower. I’ll stick with Reginald Owen and the entire Lockhart family.
1989
Most of the 80’s are lost to me but by ’89 I was starting to wake up.
My list:
836 Glory1989Edward Zwick R 39 How? HOW does ths not make the list??!
1425 Lonesome Dove1989Simon Wincer NR 67 Dad loved this and I came to.
910 Henry V1989Kenneth Branagh PG13 168 The St. Crispins Day speech, echoed in Independance Day, should be required memorization for HS students across the Anglosphere.
2074 Road House1989Rowdy Herrington R 244 OK. I KNOW why this one didn’t make the list. But it makes MY list. “Benice, until it’s time to NOT be nice.”
247 Batman1989Tim Burton PG13 369
21 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade1989Steven Spielberg PG13 403
2049 Driving Miss Daisy1989Bruce Beresford PG 501 A tad surprised THIS didn’t make the big list too. Racism?
2449 Sea of Love1989Harold Becker R 621 Just kinky enough to be fun. And I LOVE middle-era Ellen Barkin.
895 Field of Dreams1989Phil Alden Robinson PG 640 Again – NOT on the list? I have a LOT of problems with this one.
12086 She’s Out of Control1989Charles De Santos PG 1080 OK. Don’t know what I was doing HERE. Will correct in the near future.
Checking the Fridge for Leftovers 